This weekend was quite the eventful one for me musically. It started off on Saturday with an audition for a major network television show. I don't want to give too many details about it, just because we're trying to keep the information relatively contained for the time being, but let me tell you....it was an experience!
The audition was being held in the Ren Cen in downtown Detroit. I don't know if anyone has ever tried to park in the Millender parking structure that's connected to the Ren Cen, but what a complete and total CLUSTER. The signs literally directed me to park on the second floor, take an elevator to the 6th floor, walk across the parking structure and then take a different elevator back down to the second floor........ummmmm.........WHY?!
Anyway, after the parking debacle was figured out, I met the rest of my group in the lobby and proceeded to the 5th floor where the auditions were being held. Our audition time was slated for 1:30pm with the judges, and yet we somehow did not make it in to see the judges until almost an hour later than our audition time. But those kinds of things always run late, so I guess I can't complain too much.
Overall I think we did pretty well, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the end result will be! I'll keep everyone posted once I get the word!
So, after the audition it was off to Bayside in Walled Lake to perform for the night. I love performing at places like this just because there is so much energy in those kinds of places its pretty hard to not have a good time with the crowd. However I would say the highlight of the evening came from a guy who was celebrating a birthday named Shane Patrick who kept running around the bar yelling "HAPPY SHANE PATRICK'S DAY!"
That performance was pretty good, plus some guy gave us a $100 tip to sing Mr. Brightside by The Killers. No complaints here!
That show ended at about 2am and then we packed up and made our way to Grand Rapids, MI for a bridal show at the Amway Hotel. This all went pretty well except for poor planning about having a live band playing with a bunch of other vendors all around us. They asked us to play so quietly that it was almost a joke. I'm sorry, you just can't play "Pour Some Sugar on Me" quietly. It loses all of it's affect. In case you have lived under a rock for literally your entire life, or you somehow are just now discovering the awesomeness of Def Leppard, the link is below......Overall I think it was a good promotion for our group, but I just hope some of these brides realize that we can really rock out, and that we are not really mean to be background music.
After that we packed up and made our way back to the D for the remainder of the weekend. Overall it was a jam packed weekend and a ton of fun.
Alright, so as soon as I read about this I knew it was something that I had to talk about.
So, it's no secret that everyone is strapped for cash in the Michigan. It's also no secret that the city of Detroit has been hit especially hard with financial troubles. However, some of the shining spots in Detroit have always been some of the great landmarks within the city, like the Fox Theatre, and of course the Detroit Opera House.
Now, news has recently broken that the Detroit Symphony is having a very difficult time keeping up with their costs, and that they may be forced with no other option but to close down.
I know that I usually post witty and condescending things in this blog, but this time I am going to make a very serious request that we, as citizens of the Metro Detroit area, take ownership of our great establishments and our city, and try to ban together and make sure that one of our greatest pieces of history is not forced to become nothing more than a memory.
In the wake of the financial troubles that the symphony has been facing, an unlikely local star has agreed to step up to the plate and do whatever he can to make sure that the symphony continues to make incredible music well into the future.
KID ROCK!!
I know it seems like a pretty strange pair, to see Kid Rock trying to save the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. However, this is way bigger than just music, or specific genres of music. This is about our city, and preserving a piece of our history!
Kid Rock has agreed to do a benefit concert at the Fox Theatre on May 12, 2012. The tickets will go on sale this Saturday at 10:00am, and are bound to go fast!
Now, ticket prices range from $100 - about $1,500 for different VIP packages. I know that seems pretty steep, but what I'm asking is that even if that seems like a lot of money, and you are unable to attend, I'm sure you can still give donations to the symphony.
We have already seen far too much of our history in Detroit turned to nothing more than abandoned buildings and graffiti ridden walls. I refuse to let that happen to the Detroit Opera House and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra without a fight!
If anyone has heard any more information about this concert or any other specifics about the DSO, please feel free to share them!
Let's ban together as a city and show the world what the city of Detroit, and the state of Michigan are truly capable of!
So I was sitting with some friends of mine last week flipping through some channels on TV and one of my friends mentioned that they love the new Colbie Caillat song "Brighter Than The Sun", if you're not sure what song I'm talking about, it's right here!
Anyway, one of my friends said he really likes the song, and one of my other friends started making fun of him because he said the song sucked. So, this got me thinking about, how music preferences are truly objective. I may think something is amazing, where you might think it's the worst thing you've ever heard. So this got me thinking.....
DING DING DINGNEW BLOG TOPICDING DING DING
So this week I wanted to ask you, who your favorite artists are and why? I don't want some lame response that someone is "the best" and that's why they are your favorite. I'm genuinely curious as to what factors contribute to different people liking artists.
I will go first to try to make things a little bit easier for everyone. My top 3 favorite artist are Jason Mraz, India Arie, and Rascal Flatts. Now, if you're looking at those artist separately you would probably think that they are way different, and to an extent they are, but they actually have more in common than you might originally think.
The reason I like Jason Mraz's music so much is because it is driven by rhythm and harmonies. He may not be the best vocal singer around, but when it comes to creation, and artistry, he is one of the best. I love that his music is so strongly linked to the beat, and that hes very relaxed while he performs.
The reason I love India Arie so much is because she is one of the most musically talented people I have ever seen. I saw her in concert about 5 years ago, and she played the bass guitar, electric guitar, flute, and keyboard flawlessly. Did I mention she has an incredible voice as well? Well....she does. So if that doesn't sell you on her, I don't know what will!
That just leaves me with Rascal Flatts. I would consider Rascal Flatts to be my vice. I mean sure, they are talented, but I think I like them more so because their songs are catchy and fun to sing along to.
As a little bit of a change up this week, I decided that the theme of this post was going to be Grammy related. However, instead of just talking about the performers and say what my favorite part was, I'm going to do one better and critique the best and worst performances. Trust me folks, this will be good, because there were some pretty ridiculous performances this year.....
Oh and in case you didn't know......WHITNEY HOUSTON DIED?!?! WHAT?!
Alright, so let's start with the top of the show and work our way down shall we.....
Rihanna and Coldplay were the first major performance for the night, and I would say the performance was average at best. It started with Rihanna coming out looking like a cross between Britney Spears and Diana Ross with her very golden locks. Not sure if that's her best look, but I am sure that it was one of her better stage performances. Rihanna has a tendency to look slightly uninterested while she performs, and because of that can come across a little boring. She had a very high energy performance that was relatively on key, so I'd say it was probably a 3.5 out of 5. Now, the duet between Coldplay and Rihanna, was a complete melodic mess. I'm not sure who the genius behind that collaboration was, but I'm pretty sure they won't be planning anything for quite some time. The duet had no confidence, lacked energy, and conviction. It would be generous of me to even give that a 1.5 out of 5. Finally, Coldplay performed their new single paradise, and I must say it was extremely successful! I've heard this song EVERYWHERE since the Grammys, which is exactly what Coldplay could have asked for. I think their performance was very deserving of the 3.5 out of 5 stars, that I've awarded them! Below is a link to their performance if you missed it!
Next on my list are Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. Now, there are a few cons to their performances, and at least on pro....
The pro for Katy, is that she didn't attempt to sing live! Thank God! Shes finally learned that she is not meant to be a live singer. The con is that she is just not all that captivating to anyone besides 13 year old girls anymore. Yes, I can admit that I've been caught humming or dare I say even singing to some of her songs on the radio, but she is always a let down when she performs live. ALWAYS. The same can be said of Taylor Swift. I love her as a person, and I think shes a very sweet person, but she is just awful at singing without some extensive editing. Plus, did anyone notice what she was wearing? If my memory serves me correctly it was something that Auntie Em from the Wizard of Oz would wear..... Needless to say.....NOT GOOD!
Taylor and Katy both get 2.5 out of 5 stars from me! Also, I'm not going to post their video, just for the sheer fact that they aren't very good.
The Beach Boys, Maroon 5, and Foster the People are the next groups that I wanted to go into some detail about. Maroon 5 and Foster the People started things off by doing renditions of Beach Boys songs and then they all came together at the end and sang a beach boys song together. Surprisingly enough, I would say that both Maroon 5 and Foster the People did quite well. I wasn't expecting them to be able to pull of Beach Boys songs, but they managed it quite well. Their solo performances get 3.5 out of 5 stars from me! However, the performance by all three groups were very good and very entertaining. Anytime you can get 3 groups from completely different genres and eras together and they sound good together, I would say it's a success! This collaboration gets 4 out of 5 stars! Just as a side note, Adam Levine of Maroon 5 literally looks like he has no idea what is going on during the song with the Beach Boys. You can just tell on his face that he's completely clueless, but you can see for yourself!
Glen Campbell, The Band Perry, and Blake Shelton are next on my list for the night. This was actually one of my favorite performances of the night. I thought Glen Campbell was easily one of the most entertaining and fun to watch performers of the night. You may not know a lot of his music, but boy did he shine at the Grammys! This performance gets 4.5 out of 5 in my book!
However, my favorite performances of the night were done by Adele, Jennifer Hudson, and Paul McCartney. Adele was easily the most highly anticipated performance of the night, since she was nominated for 5 awards for the night and was doing her first performance since she had throat surgery to remove some nodes on her vocal folds. She delivered a performance that was exactly what everyone was hoping for, and she looks incredible, 5 out of 5 in my book. Jennifer Hudson also had a very highly anticipated performance since she was doing a memoir to the late Whitney Houston. Her performance was also virtually flawless vocally. She did a very solid performance considering she was quite obviously upset while on stage, 4.5 out of 5 from me! The last major highlight of the night was the performance from Paul McCartney with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, the Foo Fighters and more. This was an awesome performance that was a perfect close to the show, 5 out of 5 from me!
There were a few more performance throughout the night, but they were not very memorable to me. I would love to her your opinion though. What did you think about the performances of the Grammys?
TELL ME!
PS - In case anyone forgot. Whitney Houston did the most amazing National Anthem that the world has ever seem. She was a truly amazing talent, and she will be missed forever. Here is her incredible Star Spangled Banner....
So it's the end of yet another weekend, and time for me to once again talk about the band that I went and saw this past weekend. However, things are going to be done a little differently this time.
Yesterday I went and saw a band called Collision Six at Bayside in Walled Lake, but this time I'm not gonna review the group.
I KNOW, I KNOW....This is a blog about reviewing music, how can I just not review a group?! Before everyone goes and gets their knickers all twisted let me explain.
I've been asked to fill in for this group as one of the lead vocalists in March, so to prevent any conflict of interests, I've decided the best thing I can do is to not destroy my credibility as a music critic. But that doesn't mean I can't do a few shameless plugs here and there ;).
So, to sum up the performance, it was extremely high energy, tons of fun to watch, and is a younger group than the Dan Rafferty Band that I reviewed last week. So if thats the kind of group you're looking for, then this is your group!.....Did I mention they're talented?
No, seriously......
They're good, so book us........well, them........whatever, you know what I mean!
So, since this was going to be a pretty lame post, if I didn't have something to talk about, I decided the best thing I could do was get some opinions of the people who read this each week. So, I've compiled a little poll to see what you think about the musicians that Detroit has produced throughout the years.
This list contains the most high profile musicians that have come out of Detroit within the last few decades.
The poll is right below this, so please feel free to comment and tell me why you think your musician is the best. Also, if your artist isn't one of the 4 listed, TELL ME WHO IT IS!
Seriously.... I'm on the edge of my seat right now, waiting in anticipation to find out who you think is the best.
Alright, so to continue my saga to discover different bands around the D continued this weekend with The Dan Rafferty Band. Now I must say, unlike the last band I saw, I had heard tons of good things about the DRB, so my expectations were very high.
Let me say.....They definitely did NOT disappoint!
The DRB are a group of all guys and 1 girl who play tons of songs across every genre you can think of. Between the talent of the members of the group and the energy that they exude, its nearly impossible to have a bad time while watching them.
However, I must say my favorite part of the night was when they did "I Love the Way You Move" by Outkast. Why, you ask? Well, thats because Dan Rafferty himself did one of the rap verses to the song. Why is that a big deal? Well that would be because Dan is in his 60's! Now I know what people might be thinking. When we see older people rapping our first inclination is to say something like "ohhhhh, that's so cute", just like if you were to see a puppy trying to use a skateboard or a baby using an Ipad. However, this was not what people were saying. If anything I would say it was more like this:
DAMMMMMNNNNNN.....White boy's got some skills!
He not only rapped it, but made it sound good. So good in fact that if you were not looking at him, you probably wouldn't have even known it was him doing it.
Probably the only negative aspect of the night that I had was that they did almost all rock music in their first set. While I like rock music, I like when groups switch it up a little more and keep people guessing. However, I'm guessing the fact that they were in White Lake, MI at Billy's Tip N' Inn might have had something to do with the song selection.
Also, since we are highlighting some of the talent in the group, I just need to say that the saxophone player was unbelievably talented. I have grown up around music, specifically instrumental music my entire life, and he is one of the most musically talented people I have ever had the opportunity to see live. The only way to truly do this group justice is to go out and see them!
I don't know what else I can say about the group besides that they were one of, if not the best band I have seen in the D thus far. With that being said, heres the ratings for the performance:
Music: ***** Performance: ***** Talent: ***** Entertainment Value: ****
So, if you are looking to go out with some friends and have a guaranteed good time, then I recommend going and seeing the Dan Rafferty Band. They also take requests, so if you don't hear your favorite song, odds are that they know it and would be more than happy to play it for you. They also do weddings and other events, so whatever the venue, I think they would definitely be the band to call!
And always remember.....Squatters have rights too.
Alright, so last night I was at the Hamlin Pub in Rochester, MI so that I could go see the Dave Hamilton Band. Now, this was the first time I had ever heard of this group so I decided to go literally knowing nothing about the group.
I mean, for all I knew they could have been a mariachi band!
Luckily......they weren't.
However, I was pleasantly surprised for the most part. For those of you, who like me had never heard of the group before, I would sum them up as a mellow coffee shop type of band. While, generally I'm not thrilled to go see these types of groups in a bar setting, for some reason it worked for them. The crowd at the bar wasn't looking to sit down and watch a band perform. They wanted some good music to be playing in the background of their conversations, and that's what the Dave Hamilton Band provided.
Their style and sound are very similar to that of Hootie and the Blowfish. It was actually slightly bizarre how similar the lead singer sounded like Darius Rucker. As for the music played, they played a little bit of Hootie (probably to make the cynical people like me happy) along with some other 90's rock with some country tossed in every now and then. The best way I can sum them up stylistically would be to say this:
If you were listening to the Matchbox 20 station on Pandora, you might hear them.
One of the only things that annoyed me about the set that I heard is that it wasn't really fun. Now, let me explain that remark, before I get hate letters from the Dave Hamilton Band's fans. I was looking to get out and let loose a little bit. I wanted to hear some more songs that EVERYONE knows, ya know?
So, to sum it up, if you want to sit at your table with a nice Bud Light draft, or a nice glass of Pinot, and have a conversation with some friends and hear some good music while you do it, then this is the group for you. If you are looking to watch a good show, and get up and dance with some of your friends, then I would recommend you go elsewhere!
Music: **** Performance: *** Talent: **** Entertainment Value: **
Also, for all of you Foursquare users, for checking in for the first time at the Hamlin Pub, you receive 15% off of your entire bar tab. That one DEFINITELY came in handy!
And remember, If you're happy and you know it, go ahead and clap your hands.......unless you're in an elevator with a complete stranger, that just might make for one awkward ride.
